cpu/video card upgrade advice time

[spigidygak]

So last time I asked for video card upgrades I ended up getting too cheap and held off for time being. But now with all the new shooters out my 9600xt is just too puny now. However I wanted to know what you guys thought about this upgrade.

Currently I'm running a P4 northwood 2.4c 800bus on a 865g chipset with 1GB ram and the 9600xt.

Right now AGP is the only choice and I don't want to spend the cash on a complete new upgrade so I'm ok with not having the fastest and newest with PCI-e. Anyhow I'm looking into maybe a 6800gt or x800 pro. But was wondering if getting either card would be bottlenecked by the 2.4 p4 and if I should upgrade that to at least a 3.0., or just stick with going with a 6600gt because the performance won't be that much of a bump.

[Bires]

OC that 2.4c
Mine runs very cool at 3.0GHz.

What resolution do you perfer to run?

[spigidygak]

I would overclock the badboy unfortunately I'm limited by using a SFF case so when i overclock it to even 2.8 it is very unstable. Maybe if I got a new cooler that would fix that problem but I need to find something that can fit in there.

Resolution wise if its possible 1680x1050 (i have the dell wide screen) but It doesn't bother me to go down a bit to get the game running, which is obviously what i've been doing with the 9600xt.

[Bires]

Honestly, I would tough out the 9600XT until you are ready to upgrade the CPU/Mobo/chipset. Buying AGP now will hurt you later, when your next system will be PCIe, unless you buy a hybrid mobo, which I doubt are very stable.

Actually, that's what I'm doing with my 3.0-R9800P. I run everything at 1024x768x4XFSAA and even the new things work well, but I don't have your particular tastes for the higher resolutions. (I prefer a higher refresh rate, 100Hz)

[spigidygak]

Yeah you're probably right, anyhow I overlooked the bigger problem. Because my SFF case only has a 250w powersupply. So I don't think I have enough juice to even run a 6800/x800 to begin with. That could explain also why I am able to only oc up to around 2.6 and have it stable, it'll load windows at 2.7 but just freeze under load and the temps aren't even near toasty. So I guess this means new system building time and a good excuse to make a mythtv box.

[DarkFury]

What is a SFF case? And honestly, you can usually buy a new case with a beefier powersupply if that is the problem.

BTW... I run a GeForce 6800... which runs quite nice for AGP. And honestly, I haven't even thought about moving to the next platform yet... until my hand is totally forced.

[spigidygak]

SFF= small form factor. I'm using the soltek EQ3401. Great lil bugger that's easy to carry around. If only it had a beefier powersupply, I'd be upgrading the card at least. Oh well, always fun to build a new system. Just gotta find some cash.